BAKU, Jan 27 — A man armed with a Kalashnikov shot dead an official in charge of security at Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran today and wounded two embassy guards, the foreign ministry said.
An investigation was launched, a foreign ministry statement said, describing the condition of the two injured as “satisfactory”.
Iran, home to millions of ethnic Azerbaijanis, has long accused Baku of fomenting separatist sentiments in its territory.
Relations between Baku and Tehran have been traditionally sour, as Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan is a close ally of Iran’s historical rival Turkey.
Iran is also suspicious of Azerbaijan’s military cooperation with Israel — a major arms supplier to Baku — saying Tel Aviv could potentially use Azerbaijani territory as a bridgehead against Iran. — AFP
